The Singers
by aleja1
Summary: Nellie Veitenheimer's life takes a turn for the tragic when her father accepts a teaching assignment in a small town in the Midwest, tearing her far from her beloved New York. Henryville bring surprises - the cute boys, the amazing choir, the drama club. It all seems to good to be true until she experience Antisemitism. Should she stay quiet or speak out her Jewish identity.Mic/Nel


**Name: The Singers**

**Based on: The Violin Players by Eileen Bluestone Sherman**

**Words: 1,871 (Not including Author's note or story info)**

**Pairings: Main is Michael/Nellie but I'm still thinking about other pairings.**

**Warnings: This story contains anti-Semitism. A lot of it. You may not like some characters in the beginning of the story, but I'll try to make everyone good in the end. **

**There will be 8-10 chapters. Perhaps more. Each chapter ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 words. Again, maybe more.**

**Disclaimer: I own this cool green pen…that's really it.**

**Chapter 1 – The Flight**

The aisle of the plane was crowded by a long line of passengers, each looking restless and annoyed. Apparently, these New Yorkers were not morning people. Heaving a sigh of disgust and annoyance, Nellie Veitenheimer took her place by the window. The teenager's sulking did not go unnoticed as she tried to find a place for her legs in the narrow area in front of her.

"Ah, come on, Nells," coaxed her dad. "It's not going to be that bad." He grabbed her black guitar case and placed it in the above compartment.

"You might actually enjoy yourself," added Nellie's mother.

"Give me a break," Nellie mumbled under her breath.

Melissa Veitenheimer heard the remark, but chose to ignore it. To finish all the last minute packing, Melissa woke up at 4. She was glad to be on board. With her eyelids drooping over her big green eyes, she mumbled to wake her up when they land.

As Nellie buckled her seat belt, she was trying to understand her father's decision to leave New York and go teach in the Midwest. Of course, she knew all the facts. A month ago, her father's litery agent received a call from a tired sounding theater professor in Missouri. The school's playwriting instructor had to take a sudden leave of absence, and a mutual friend has suggested Nellie's dad as a wonderful substitute. Nellie hated that mutual friend now. As an incentive, the theater department promised to produce Daniel Veitenheimer's new comedy in the spring. Nellie knew her father. He would normally not even have considered the offer, but the day before, the group of producers who had promised to finance the new show is Boston and then tour the show around the country in preparation for the New York opening had decided to stop the project entirely. Still, Nellie had been amazed when her father agreed to the deal. "But, Dad! Henryville? It's in the middle of nowhere,"

"Look, Nels, I'd rather some hotshot New York producer jumped on wagon. But listen, this could do the trick. Henryville is only an hour away from Kansas City. This could get me to Broadway!"

Ever since Nellie could remember her father had been trying to get a sow on Broadway. It wasn't like Daniel Veitenheimer was unknown to other directors and actors. His comedies were well known in many popular dinner theaters throughout the country and some had even been shown on cable television. Unfortunately, TV executives didn't have much sway with Broadway producers. Nellie decided her father must've been really desperate to consider sacrificing seven months of their lives.

"It's not a sacrifice," he kept insisting. "It's an adventure that somehow will pay off. You'll see."

All Nellie could see was the sad November day outside the window. Preparing for takeoff, Nellie took a final glimpse of the New York skyline while her large brown eyes struggled to fight back tears.

It wasn't like she'd never left New York. She had been flying since infancy, which if you thought about it is bad. Babies should not be on planes. Nellie was already getting a headache from the crying toddler a few rows behind her. Her parents' jobs demanded that they fly all over. Nellie's mother was a noted artist and received dozens of invitations each year to exhibit and speak about her portrait painting. Her father also received invites to address aspiring writers or to be present for an opening night. Whenever possible, Nellie gladly missed a day or two of school to accompany her parents. Luckily she had always excelled in the classroom. Except in calculus. Her teachers were very understanding about make-up work. During the summer, the family took extra long vacations. Getting on a plane was a simple and natural as braiding her long brown hair. Normally, there were few things she loved more than flying, but things were different this time.

This trip meant leaving her two best friends, Ali and Abraham, for the remainder of their junior year. This trip meant giving up her lead in the school choir. This trip meant giving up the title of captain of the debate team. Worst of all, this trip meant no musical, after the direct announced that Nellie would be playing the lead.

Her father was not at all oblivious to Nellie's disappointment. Her dad let her know that if she really wanted to stay in New York, her grandparents were more than happy to have her. Yeah right, Nellie thought, like I want to stay with the super Jews. She politely declined, telling her parents that she'd miss them too much. This was true, but she really did not want to stay with Ida and Joseph Veitenheimer.

She loved her grandparents, she really did. Sometimes they were just too much. She'd sometimes wonder how her father could stand living in an Orthodox Jewish household. It was strict with so many rules. Ida kept a strictly kosher kitchen and Joseph prayed in synagogue daily. Rain or shine, every Saturday morning they walked to and from the synagogue. Nellie remembered the twelve-minute walk in the bitter cold or pouring rain as absolute torture. Saturday afternoons were equally painful. No movies. No card games. No television. No telephone. No writing. No shopping. No radio. On Shabbat, not even the flipping of a light switch was allowed in Ida and Joseph's apartment. No, Nellie was not ready to become an observant Jew just to star in a school production of _Grease_.

Nellie always thought it was natural that once in college, her father abandoned his parents' old fashioned ways. He never meant to hurt them, but he just wanted to fit in with the rest of America. Nellie's father always tried to make a joke of Ida and Joseph concern that Nellie was not in Hebrew school. "Don't worry, Ma." he had said "Nellie knows who she is. Right kiddo?" And he looked over at Nellie and winked. "How can she forget? We live in New York, the Kingdom of Kosher Delis!"

Nellie laughed as her father flashed that endearing smile that she inherited from him. Her grandmother, however, was not impressed.

"Bagels and matzah balls don't make a Jew," she scolded them "Ignorance is a terrible curse." Her grandma sat quietly for a moment before starting again "And another thing, Christmas tree in a Jewish home? I never heard of such a thing! It's a _shanda_!"

Later, when Nellie asked her father what _shanda_ meant, they sat down at the dinner table and had a long discussion. He explained to her that the Yiddish word meant "disgrace" and that grandma thought he should be ashamed of himself.

"But, honey, I'm not. Your mother grew up without learning a single word of Hebrew or attending a synagogue. Your grandparents in San Francisco were so modern, they simply called their tree a 'Hanukkah Bush'. I don't want to anger my parents, but it makes me sad that they do not understand. I do love them." As Nellie sat and remembered these comments, her anger towards her father grew. Why was her father sensitive to everyone's feeling except hers. When he reached out to grab her hand, she pulled away from him.

"Give me a break, sweetheart. In all your years knowing me, have I ever let you down? I bet that six months from now, you'll be wishing we could stay longer."

Without the slightest expression, Nellie answered, "The playwright has a vivid imagination."

"It speaks!" teased her father. Even though her mother was out, she made a gurgling sound in her sleep, as though she was laughing. Nellie couldn't help but giggle. Her father took the moment. "How about a fish tournament?" He pulled a box of cards out of his pocket.

"You're kidding," Nellie snorted, "But, I'll take you up on a game of poker. Get out your change, old man." The first time Nellie played poker she was ten. One of her dad's plays were opening out in London and on the plane ride home, her father kept her occupied by teaching her poker. She learned fast and in the next five years, she had managed to out bluff every single one of her dad's poker buddies. She was not only a skill card player; she was also a natural actress. Only once did this amazing combination get her into trouble.

Nellie was in sixth grade when her mother received a phone call from her principal who reported that Melissa had been suspended. When her parents arrived at her school, they were informed that their child, a "4.0" honor roll student, a class representative, and the editor of the student newsletter, had been setting up poker games during free period and study hall. To makes worse, when a student demanded her money back because she needed bus fare, Nellie refused to return any winnings. Only after her one day suspension and an apology to the student, was Nellie allowed to return to school.

As Nellie dealt the next hand, her father reminded her of the incident. "Puh-leeze! It's been a long time since sixth grade. But I still insist I was the one victimized."

Her father waved her off, "Just promise me that I won't be getting any calls from your new school." She nodded.

After the game, she won, her father decided to take a nap. "Oh, great!" thought Nellie. "They drag me on this plane and then desert me." The last time she felt this terrible, she had just broken up with Paul.

The thought of Paul made Nellie feel even worse. The two had gone out for a year and she liked him more than any boy she'd known. This past summer, she'd written to him every day from Maine. But when she got back, Nellie found out that Paul had a new girlfriend. Only her grandmother celebrated.

"Thank heaven," Nellie overheard her grandmother tell her mother. "I try not to interfere, but I was beside myself. Do you realize that for a whole year she dated a Gentile? A Goy!"

"Mom, you overreact," Melissa had calmly answered her mother-in-law. "Nels is only fifteen."

"Five or fifteen, the boy must be Jewish."

Nellie had been hearing the same thing since the second grade, when she told her grandmother that she was in love with a boy on her swimming team. Nellie knew lots of Jewish boys. They just weren't interesting. At all.

Still, out of respect, Nellie didn't argue with her grandmother. She knew she could never change Ida's opinion. But, of course, Nellie wasn't changing her opinion, either. For a moment, she considered the fact that maybe she was destined to meet someone in Henryville.

The pilot announced that the plane would land at Kansas City International Airport in about twenty minutes. Nellie's daydreaming stopped. This was really happening. The plane was going to land and she'd be thrust into an unknown world. No one knew her her. She had to prove herself all over again.

Surprisingly, her parents slept through the bumps in the air. They were oblivious to the obvious turmoil in the atmosphere. Even worse, they were oblivious to the turmoil building inside their daughter.

**Author's Note: **

**I hope you like the first chapter of **_**The Singers**_**. The next chapter will introduced many more characters. Please tell me any criticisms you might have and any suggestions. If there is a certain pairing you want to see, let me know! I'll try my best to incorporate what you guys want. Not all the characters from The Glee Project or Glee will make appearances, but if there's someone certain you want to see, just reviewing telling me who and any ideas on how you want them to play into the story. I'll reply to all reviews.**

**Chapter 2: Michael – Nellie will meet her new classmates and see her new town. A certain brown-eyed baseball player sneaks his way into Nellie's heart. **


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